Regional Characteristics Of Metaphor

Metaphor study has a long history. Traditionally, metaphor is regarded as a rhetoric device, and the study to metaphor was limited to literature, poetic and rhetoric. Ever since the publication of the masterpiece Metaphor We Live By by Lakoff and Johnson, metaphor becomes an essential part in people's cognitive mechanism instead of being perceived as language phenomenon alone. Since then, more and more scholars have noticed the cognitive essence of metaphor. Metaphor is thus in principle a conceptual issue and regarded as a mapping from the source domain to the target domain.Previously, there are many works concerning about metaphor study, but most of the previous studies are all concerning about the cognitive essence of metaphor, there seldom has anybody to have a systematical study about the sources of metaphor from the cognitive perspective, no one had ever studied the regional characteristics of metaphor. Therefore, this research is going to study the regional characteristics of metaphor under the general cognitive framework, and also, it points out the various origins of the sources, at the same time, it concludes that the sources of metaphor are closely related to the regional factors, and metaphor has its unique geographical characteristics and cultural characteristics, that is to say, metaphor has its unique regional characteristics.At the beginning of this paper, it is a general introduction about metaphor. Including the definition of metaphor, the significance of this study, research framework and research questions, methodology and data collection. Then turn to the second part, the literature review, both the achievements that has been made in the west and in China are mentioned. Chapter three introduces the geographical characteristics of metaphor, it is the focus of this study, and also it is where this paper's originality lies. Chapter four is the exploration of the cultural characteristics of metaphor. Finally, it draw a conclusion, that metaphor itself is a cognitive activity, it's a common way of our thoughts and actions, and the sources of metaphor has its specific regional characteristics, hence, metaphor has its unique regional characteristics.The studies show that metaphor has its unique regional characteristics, and this study is a reinforcement of the new metaphorical trend, which is metaphor is a cognitive activity. Also this research can be helpful for us to understand metaphor better, and it is good for us to appreciate the famous literary works, especially good for us to appreciate works from different region and culture. Thus, it enhances people's capability in literary reading and provides valuable suggestions for language learning and researching.